(04-08-2014 10:38 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(04-08-2014 10:10 AM)WKUApollo Wrote:  Two things.....

1. Ouch.....funny how facts change assumptions. Good data bud.
2. I hadn't realized how bad EKU's attendance had become in the last 10 years. Since Roy Kidd retired, their prestige and national prominence took a nose dive...that and the decline of the OVC as well. EKU continues to have winning seasons though. They've only had one losing season in the last 40 years so it's not because of losing. I really think their attendance decline is because of the changing OVC. It used to be a powerful IAA/FCS conference.

There seems to be a really thin line with EKU fans. Merely winning seems to be insufficient. Winning AND being relevant appears to be the key. Just being above average doesn't seem to inspire their fan base.

I also find it interesting that in the 1960's they seemed to have a pretty significant vision. They built a 6,500 seat arena and 22,000 seat football stadium. Those aren't the actions of a school that had a vision of playing small-time, but they seem to have at some point put their hands on their hips surveyed the scene and declared they were satisfied as numerous schools rushed past.

The football stadium and basketball arena had nothing to do with being small-time or big-time. Both building had to be budgeted as educational buildings. If it was only about sports neither would have been built. As a matter of fact the stadium was referred to as classrooms with a stadium on top. The same thing at Western with one difference...

Western basketball was a national name at that time especially in the northeast so in a sense the classrooms were build around our basketball arena. That's why the state gave Western a educational building that would seat 14,000 basketball fans and EKU only 6500.

Actually that's one reason I think EKU will have a harder time making this move than Western. In the state of KY politics plays a huge role in funding and just as Western found out when we tried to get state help in funding the upgrade....

EKU will find out it's almost impossible to get any help from the state and will need private funding. As others pointed out it took Western many years to do this. I don't know if EKU can get it done at least not in enough time to make a move or to sell the school to a conference to take a chance on them. Western started a building fund with a goal of 100 million and I think that campaign reached the 300 million mark....

that a long with working with the city of Bowling Green to get creative with some bond funding to go ahead with the upgrade on Diddle.

As 518 pointed out it was a lot easier getting people to part with their money for donations in the early parts of the 2000s than it is today.